Hindi
Filamchi inks a strategic partnership with Chingari app
MUMBAI: Filamchi, a Bhojpuri movie channel from the house of IN10 Media Network has signed a strategic partnership with Chingari, a homegrown short video app for live streaming of its world TV Premieres.
The association will commence with the premiere of the movie Loha Pahalwan, which will be live-streamed on the Chingari app. The tie-up marks a first in the genre as a TV channel and short video platform will integrate to enhance a multi-viewing experience for the audience.
Speaking on the plan of action, Chingari’s co-founder and CEO, Sumit Ghosh said, “This is one of its kind collaboration where a film will be premiered and made available to the audience through not just TV channel, but also through a short-video platform which will not only expand the audience base but provide a new way of live streaming films in the current digital world. Evolution is the key and Chingari aims to continue collaborating and evolving the space of digital media to the best of its capabilities so that the audience and creators both benefit from it.”
Commenting on the association, IN10 Media Network, AVP-Marketing, Vinita Shrivastav, said, “The Bhojpuri market has the potential to grow as the audience seeks more localized and relatable content. In today’s multiscreen world, we need to be omnipresent to reach out to our viewers and let them experience content across platforms. The association will aid the platforms in increasing their audience base and engaging them across Bhojpuri movie fans.”
Talking about the collaboration, app’s co-founder, and COO, Deepak Salvi said, “The contest on Chingari is to provide an overall benefit to both the film creators and the Chingari creators. Pawan Singh is one of the most renowned actors of Bhojpuri Cinema and hence it is authentic entertainment being made available for our audience along with a chance to win a huge cash prize.”
The live streaming is supported by a dialogue challenge #mainbhifilamchi where Chingari users can create interesting videos on Pawan Singh’s dialogues from the movie and participate in the contest to win 20 lakh Chingari coins.
The movie will air on 22 May at 1:00 pm on Filamchi channel and Chingari App.
Hindi
Remembering Gyan Sahay, the lens behind film, television and advertising
From a puppet rabbit selling poppadums to Hindi cinema, he framed it all.
MUMBAI: There are careers, and then there are canvases. Gyan Sahay, the veteran cinematographer, director, and producer who passed away on 10 March 2026 in Mumbai, had one of the latter. Over several decades in the Indian film and television industry, he turned lenses, lights, and the occasional puppet rabbit into something approaching art.
A graduate of the Film and Television Institute of India (FTII) in Pune, Sahay built his reputation as a director of photography across a career that stretched from the early 1970s all the way to the digital age. He was the kind of craftsman who understood that a well-composed shot is not merely a technical achievement but a quiet act of storytelling.
For most Indians of a certain age, however, Sahay will forever be the man behind the rabbit. His direction of the iconic long-running television commercial for Lijjat Papad, featuring its now-legendary puppet bunny, gave the country one of its most cheerfully persistent advertising images. It was the sort of work that sneaks into the national subconscious and takes up permanent residence.
His big-screen credits as cinematographer include Anokhi Pehchan (1972), Pagli (1974), Pas de Deux (1981), and Hum Farishte Nahin (1988). In 1999, he stepped behind a different kind of camera altogether, making his directorial debut with Sar Ankhon Par, a drama that featured Vikas Bhalla and Shruti Ulfat, with a cameo by Shah Rukh Khan for good measure.
On television, Sahay was particularly prized for his command of multi-camera production setups, a skill that made him a go-to technician for large-scale shows and reality programmes. In an industry that has never been especially patient with complexity, he was the calm hand on the rig.
In later life, Sahay turned teacher. He participated regularly in masterclasses and Digi-Talks, often hosted by organisations such as Bharatiya Chitra Sadhna, sharing hard-won wisdom on cinematography, the comedy of timing in a shot, and the sweeping changes brought by the shift from celluloid to digital. He was also said to have been involved in a project concerning a biographical film on Infosys co-founder N.R. Narayana Murthy.
Tributes from the film industry poured in following the news of his passing, with colleagues remembering him as a senior cameraman who served as a rare bridge between two entirely different eras of Indian cinema. That is, perhaps, the finest thing one can say of any craftsman: he kept up, and he brought others along with him.
